I have a problem….

I have started finishing up my blues strips quilts that I made in 2025. Well, I washed the first couple and they turned out fine.

Here are the first two I showed you in case you have forgotten.

 
 

The next two, not so great.

Yes, I had a lot of red bleeding. Oh my. Yes, I did use color catchers, but apparently not enough!

The good thing about this is that I’ve not dried them so hopefully with enough persuasion, Dawn soap and washing again and soaking in the bathrub, I can get the red out.

But it will have to be a future project. This happened right before we left for my daughter’s wedding in the states, and I decided to not try to tackle this project at this point. I just put it on hold until I get back. Of course I feel sick about it, but I will work on it - but I had so many other things to do that I didn’t have the mental or emotional energy to focus on the two tops that have run.

Yes, I know what fabric it is. I think I used it all up. It was a beautiful deeply saturated red.

I should have washed it first. Yes, I should have.

I do not know the source of the fabric as it was just folded with my other solids.

Lesson learned. I will get to it when I get back to Poland - and see if I can help these two quilts be acceptable. I had hoped that they would be Quilts of Valor, but if I can’t salvage them, I will have to come up with another option.

We’ll see. But I think I can help the situation as long as I don’t put them in the dryer. It’s just going to take time and maybe some soaking in the bathtub.

The bad thing about a front loader is that at least mine isn’t all that big (by American standards) and there just isn’t a lot of water being used. That is a negative if you have bleeding as having more water helps keep those dye particles moving in the water.

Anyway, this is my bad news. I will definitely keep you updated on them. I’m sure I will work on them one at a time.

You can also see my stars quilting on this one on the right.

 

Lots of Red and White

I was able to get out a lot of red in a red/white quilt I made a couple of years ago when I made a donation quilt for sick kids - and this one was auctioned off. I didn’t follow its story, however, as I know it didn’t bring the amount it should have. I’m sure of that one thing.

I figured once I donated it, then my job was done. I didn’t need to feel bad about how little it got. The point is, there were places the red ran on this one and I had to do some work with Dawn dish detergent and wash it again and again. But I got the red out and it ended up very nice - pic to the right.

I am regretting using that super dark red. But we’ll see if I can get it out! I have hope. The bad thing is, the red is sitting on the white the whole time I’m in the states, which can’t be good. The good thing is, I’ve not dried anything in the dyer! Hopefully that will help keep it from setting.

But that’s the status for now.

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this journey.

Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

Becky Petersen2 Comments